Locum Agreements: Solicitor Cover and Handover

Define the Temporary Assignment

Define the locum assignment by the work accepted and its start and finish triggers. Name the practice, the solicitor and the professional role. Record the principal or other contact who can make decisions during the absence.

Leave cover usually requires continuity across existing matters. Overflow cover might assign a defined group of tasks while the usual solicitor stays involved. A specialist assignment can confine the locum to one issue, with the practice retaining conduct of the wider matter. Write the chosen arrangement into the scope so staff know where to send instructions.

List the covered matters and excluded work in a schedule. State whether the locum can accept new matters, give advice outside the scheduled work or instruct counsel. Include working arrangements, availability and the event that ends the assignment, such as the principal’s return or completion of specified work.

The Law Society of NSW Locum Service connects practices with temporary assistance. Its information for locums sets registration criteria, including an unrestricted practising certificate and five years’ post-admission experience. Those are service registration criteria. They do not establish a universal eligibility test for every private locum arrangement.

Confirm Authority, Conflicts and Insurance

Confirm that the proposed work fits the locum’s practising authority, conditions and competence before allocating it. Check the current certificate and any restrictions against the actual role, including supervision and any proposed responsibility for trust money. The practising certificate guide explains the separate authority question.

Run the practice’s conflict check before disclosing substantive client information. Include the locum’s current and former work in the process. If a potential conflict appears, resolve it through the practice’s professional decision process before the affected assignment proceeds.

NSW’s solicitor duties guidance explains obligations concerning client instructions, confidentiality and undertakings. Agree how clients will learn about the cover, who seeks any required instructions and who answers questions about responsibility. Confidentiality requirements also govern information shared with a consultant outside the practice’s ordinary staff arrangements.

Resolve the professional indemnity insurance arrangement using the actual engagement terms. Lawcover’s consultancy guidance distinguishes consultants who may fall within its policy’s employee definition from independent contractors who require their own arrangements. A contract label or payment method alone does not establish cover.

Give the insurer the proposed role, client-retainer arrangement, billing method and supervision structure. Obtain the relevant cover decision before work starts. Record the policy, insured entity, applicable work and any conditions in the agreement or its insurance schedule.

Keep legal authority separate from technical access. A banking login does not authorise a trust payment. Before changing payment permissions, identify the authorised practitioner and verify the applicable trust requirements under the Uniform Law, General Rules and the practice’s controls. The agreement must identify who approves payments and who can carry them out.

Put Responsibilities Into the Agreement

Use an annotated agreement checklist to turn the proposed cover into named responsibilities. Each unresolved term needs a decision-maker and a point beyond which the affected work cannot proceed.

The principal must provide a workable allocation and escalation arrangement. The locum must identify work they cannot accept or complete within the agreed authority and timeframe. Record imminent deadlines, outstanding client instructions and delegated work separately so none disappears inside a general matter description.

Identify every undertaking affecting the assignment, who gave it and what remains to be done. An internal allocation does not itself release the solicitor who gave an undertaking. Agree who monitors compliance and how the locum escalates any obstacle.

If employment status, insurance or a proposed authority remains unresolved, record the precise issue and obtain the appropriate legal or insurer decision. Hold the affected work or permission until that decision is recorded. A checklist helps the parties brief their advisers. It does not settle every engagement structure by itself.

Handover Matters and Financial Source Records

Hand over each matter through an opening record that the locum accepts. A folder invitation establishes access, but does not show that the locum understands the next obligation.

1. Identify the client, retainer scope and authority for the assigned work. Name the responsible solicitor and supervision contact.
2. Record the next deadline or obligation, its source and the action required. Include pending client instructions and any undertaking.
3. Identify authoritative documents and working versions. Record missing material, disputed facts and any proposed payment requiring approval.
4. Grant only the file and system access authorised for the assignment. Confirm that the locum can open the necessary records without exposing unrelated matters.
5. Obtain the locum’s acceptance of the allocation and record questions that require an answer before the next step.

Consider a fictional financial-dispute matter. The principal assigns the locum to prepare a request for an explanation of a disputed $18,500 transfer. The handover records that the client’s instruction permits enquiries, while any settlement proposal requires further instructions.

The financial evidence includes an Excel ledger, a findings report and the original bank statements. FinTrace converts supplied statements into a searchable workbook and source-cited findings, giving the incoming solicitor the supporting evidence directly. The handover identifies the delivered workbook version and preserves the original PDFs.

For the fictional transfer, the locum follows the report reference to the PDF filename and page, finds the corresponding ledger entry and locates the principal’s instruction. The entry records a transfer requiring an explanation. The responsible solicitor decides its legal relevance and the next communication.

If the referenced PDF is absent, record the missing source and obtain it before using that reference in correspondence. If the instruction is unclear, escalate it before expanding the enquiry. Keep each correction in the matter record so the returning solicitor receives the same evidence and instruction history.

Verify Handback and Close the Assignment

Verify handback against the opening assignment record, with a named practitioner accepting each outstanding item. Mark completed tasks and identify where their outputs are saved. Record advice sent, client communications, unresolved instructions, undertakings and any money decision still requiring action.

The locum’s final note must identify the next deadline, what must happen before it and who accepts responsibility. Attach the relevant correspondence and source documents. For the fictional transfer, record whether the enquiry was sent, whether a response arrived and where the supporting statement and workbook version remain.

Have the returning practitioner open the matter record and identify the next action without relying on the locum’s memory. They must be able to locate the authoritative financial evidence and the instruction supporting the proposed step. Record their acceptance, then remove expired access through the practice’s authorised process while preserving required records.

An unexpected extension needs an agreed revised scope, duration and cover arrangement. If the principal is unavailable or the locum leaves early, use the escalation contact and document the practitioner accepting continuing work. Temporary cover cannot end with client responsibility left implicit.

A permanent practice combination requires a different transition, addressed in the law firm merger guide. For temporary cover, close the assignment only when every remaining obligation has an accepting practitioner and the practice can act on the next deadline.